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Forum:Football, Budweiser and why all real politics is LOCAL
My name is Rob J. Kinghttp://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Rob_J_King I am overly indebted to moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alasdair_MacIntyre. First, as a Catholic citizen of the United States of America, I am indebted to MacIntyre's ROBUST Thomistic Theological Grounding. In particular, at the final conclusion of MacIntyre's apocryphal masterpiece After Virtue MacIntyre makes the rather startling claim (especially startling for 1983 when the book was written), that what is most needed in the West is a 'new St. Benedict' the founder of Western monasticism. Interestingly enough, when Cardinal Ratzinger was chosen Pope and perhaps influenced by MacIntyre's thought, Cardinal Ratzinger chose as his appellation Pope Benedict XVI in memory of St. Benedict the monastic master. Second, due to my formal theological training at the University of Notre Dame, my thought is undeniably Ascetic. Although I am certainly no St. Benedict, through small gestures I seek to lead a similarly disciplined life as the Christian ascetics once lived. No, I don't fast for days on end, but similar to St. Benedict, I seek to renounce certain bodily pleasures for the sake of the growth and purification of the soul. Third, although not an ascetic by nature, such asceticism is also the path to Virtue, whether it is general Christian virtue or the Virtue needed to rule politically. Does one act with justice in a local dispute, say between landlord and tenant? Does one act with fortitude in enduring hardships economically? Does one act with love in working with other people? All of these virtues can only be cultivated in a type of asceticism within a Christian ascending life of holiness. Fourth, to be frank, regarding 'philosophy' as a discipline, I am largely self-taught. Sure I was a Religion major in undergraduate, a Ministry student and then Theology graduate student, but philosophy I have largely learned through concrete practical knowledge ('phronesis' in Greek). Through the concrete acquisition of skill set upon skill set I have been able to become a Leader, whether it is Christian Church Leadership OR Intellectual Leadership. Fifth, MacIntyre offers a unique voice for those of us who always believed that philosophy was woefully out of touch with concrete human problems. MacIntyre, a historical philosopher as much as he is a philosophy of knowledge political theorist always utilizes concrete sociological context in order to analyze any moral issue. It is insufficient to say, "let us be just" according to MacIntyre. The key question is 'what does one mean by the term 'just'? Does one mean justice as defined by Homer in the Illiad? Does one mean Aristotle's account of justice? Does one mean an account of justice as defined later by the Modern Post-Englightenment West? Sociology, and not petty political concerns is what drives MacIntyre's analysis. Out of MacIntyre, I have been able to futher explore what it means to be a citizen living in the modern and post-modern Western Liberal Democratic World. Truly, the 'Dark Ages' were not the time of early medieval Christendom, rather the 'Dark Ages' are 2007! We live in a time of unprecedented WAR, starvation for many areas in the world (Sudan), political upheaval (Africa and Latin America), economic exploitation, and sudden shifts in world power. Within such times, truly for the Christian we must learn to 'live like St. Benedict' and establish communal enclaves that can survive such turmoil. Within such Christian monastic-like communities, economic self-sustenance is paramount, communal sharing of resources is similarly needed, and resistance to exploitation by the world financial system as it is rooted in usury must be heralded. So, in such local Christian communes (Amish-Mennonite style), politics will effectively stave off the worst of the DARK AGES of 2007 Western Post-Enlightenment Liberalism. Football, although fun to watch, cannot effectively unite society. Budweiser, although a good beer, will never serve to unify a local neighborhood. Only Jesus Christ can truly UNITE. --RobJKing 20:20, 10 October 2007 (UTC)